章 31: Kohara vs Isori
Kohara and Isori stood opposite each other on the arena floor. I couldn't find more polar opposite opponents if I tried. Kohara had a warm smile on her face, while Isori glared at Kohara as if he was trying to kill her by staring.
"Are you two both ready," asked Hayate with his usual cough. Kohara nodded and so did Isori. I was interested to see how this would play out, Isori certainly looked more banged up than Kohara but there was a definite gap in abilities between the two.
"Ready," said Kohara. Cloth began traveling up her arms as she readied herself.
"Ready," said Isori gruffly. His right hand rested on the hilt of his tanto that was strapped to his back.
"Who do you think will win this one Gaara," asked Kankuro. Temari also leaned forward to see my answer, curious about my prediction. I looked down and sighed, I wanted Kohara to win but it was time to be blunt.
"Right now, Isori is outright the more talented of the two. Kohara is skilled as well and Isori being exhausted might play into her favor but outside of that, Isori is better," I said with regret. I wished what I was saying wasn't true but I had to be honest.
"Really? I thought you would side with your friend on this one," said Temari. She and Kankuro both looked quite surprised at what I had just said, something I didn't understand.
"You saw how he fought, he's extremely talented. He's easily one of the strongest genin here," I told them.
"That may be true, but Kohara is no pushover. You of all people should know that," argued Temari. Maybe Temari was right, maybe I was underestimating her.
"You may begin," said Hayate.
Immediately, I saw Isori's Sharingan flared to life and Kohara's cloth zipped across the floor towards Isori. He easily dodged the cloth by leaping out of the way, drawing his tanto in the process. I could see Kohara smile smugly, her cloth suddenly twisting midair to follow after Isori. I frowned, that hadn't been an ability of her's I'd seen before. Usually, she had to use the cloth like an extending whip, having to reel it back in before it fell to the ground.
"How is she doing that," questioned Kankuro.
"She's using the chakra imbued inside her cloth. It allows the cloth to form into any shape she likes, all while being tough as steel," said Temari with a smile. Kohara had obviously told Temari about this technique while perfecting it, probably when they had teamed up for the representative free for all.
"It's a good technique, it doesn't allow your opponent any breathing room unless they make some," I said with pride. Kohara might just win this if she kept this up.
Her cloth continued to twist and turn after Isori as he leaped away. Suddenly, the cloth bolted forward in a burst of speed and latched onto Isori's left hand. He swiftly went to slash it away with his tanto but the cloth simply folded instead of cutting. Kohara's chakra running through the cloth must make it extremely durable, making it tough or flexible when she needed it to be. The cloth further wrapped itself around Isori's arm, making it all the way to his elbow. Isori continued to hack away at it but he wasn't even close to cutting the cloth. The cloth abruptly went taut, yanking him across the arena as it retracted back to Kohara. The Uchiha boy flew past Kohara and crashed into the hard stone wall. The Sand kunoichi merely smiled at this, sending more of her cloth to latch onto Isori. He certainly was performing poorly, even without the Sharingan he should have been able to dodge those attacks. Had I really exhausted him that match during our fight? I had tossed him around a great deal but that had been five days ago. Then again, Isori's team hadn't arrived until early this morning. They probably had run into further trouble when trying to find another scroll.
"What's with Isori? He's gonna lose to that Sand genin," said Shikamaru distastefully. Other Hidden Lead genin looked on in confusion as well. Isori was performing even more strangely than Sasuke had.
"That kid sure is acting a lot different than before," said Kankuro.
"I didn't think we had hurt him that bad," I interjected. Kankuro and Temari both rolled their eyes at my comment.
"What?"
"You sent him through two trees Gaara, and you almost crushed him with your tail," said Kankuro bluntly. We stared at each other for a moment before I turned my eyes back to look at the match
"Maybe I did lose my temper a little," I begrudgingly admitted. Kankuro and Temari chuckled and then turned to look at the match as well.
Kohara was dragging Isori across the floor towards her. Her cloth was now over his whole right side and Isori didn't seem to be too responsive. Was this really how he went down? As if Isori had heard my thoughts, he suddenly lunged to life. His Sharingan activated and he thrashed on the ground uncontrollably. Isori then raised his hand to his mouth.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."
A huge fireball erupted from Isori's mouth. It raced toward Kohara who released her cloth on Isori and lunged out of the way. The fireball exploded where she had just stood, flaring up before going out. Kohara scrambled to get up but Isori was too quick. In the blink of an eye, he was standing over Kohara. He slammed his leg straight into her gut which made her let out a gasp. Next, he delivered a crushing punch to her face just as she raised her head. My blood boiled as I watch him pick Kohara up by her hair. Several other genuine also seemed shocked by the sudden turn of events.
"I would never lose to someone like you," snarled Isori. Kohara's eyes shot open, anger flickering across them. Her hand curled into a fist and she threw a jab at Isori. He caught her punch with his other hand before it even got close to connecting.
"The Sharingan see everything," he said smugly. His smile turned to confusion though when he noticed Kohara was also smiling.
"Just because you see everything doesn't mean you're smart enough to avoid it," she said icily. Cloth rapidly shot down her arm that was currently being held by Isori. The cloth leaped onto Isori and began enveloping at a much faster rate than before. He stumbled back in an attempt to get away from it but the cloth wrapped around his legs and made him trip. Isori slammed to the ground as his face began to get covered with cloth.
"Cloth Technique: Cloth Cocoon," said Kohara weakly. The cloth bindings glowed blue with chakra, seemingly locking Isori away. Silence shrouded the arena as the dust settled and the cloth bundle with Isori inside settled on the ground. Hayate stepped forward, observing the cloth cocoon carefully.
"Alright, Isori Uchiha is immobilized. Koha-"
The cocoon exploded in flames, a huge pillar of smoke rising to the ceiling. A figure lunged from the blaze and slashed at Kohara wildly. Kohara tried to dodge the attack but she was too late. The tanto slashed deeply into her left arm, blood splattering the ground. An unstable Isori Uchiha stood over poor Kohara, tanto gripped in his hands. With his Sharingan activated and half his body scorched, he looked like some kind of demon.
"I won't lose," he yelled as he stabbed his tanto downward. Kohara rolled out of the way as the blade dug into the floor where she had been.
"Cloth Technique: Cloth Whip," she cried. A single length of cloth shot from her arm. She whipped it in a downward motion and it slammed into Isori's face. He flew backward and skidded across the ground. Kohara must have hardened the cloth with her chakra, using it similarly to a chain.
"This is looking pretty bad for Kohara," stated Kankuro grimly. I agreed, with her left arm all slashed up she didn't have many options left. Kohara's cloth techniques depended on using both of her arms, taking one out of the equation meant her power was easily cut down by half.
"Don't count her out just yet," I said. I wasn't sure if I was telling that to Kankuro or myself.
Isori forced himself upright, as did Kohara with blood dripping down her left arm. Cloth snaked down her left arm, wrapping around the deep cut on her arm. Isori continued his slow stumble towards Kohara while she bandaged herself up. Isori grabbed several shurikens from his holster and lobbed them at Kohara. Several of them flew wildly off track, it being quite apparent he wasn't able to focus the best right now.
"Cloth Technique: Flying Cloth Leg Whip."
Cloth extended down her right leg, all the way to her feet. Kohara then kicked her leg in a wide swing, with cloth extending from her heel and knocking the shuriken out of the air. She landed shakily and stumbled a little. That's when Isori lunged forward, using what seemed to be the last of his strength. Tanto clutched in his right hand, he slashed horizontally at Kohara's face. Cloth spewed from the back of her shirt, catching the blade inches from her face.
"What's he trying to do by going for her face," complained Naruto. I glanced at him with surprise, I didn't think he would feel sympathy for a Hidden Sand ninja. Then again, I imagine Isori wasn't too kind to him.
The cloth that gripped the tanto tried to tear it from Isori's hand but he had a death grip on it. His knee suddenly shot up and nailed Kohara right in the gut. She doubled over in pain and her cloth faltered. The tanto surged forward, plunging right into Kohara's left shoulder. She cried out in pain but instead of falling to the ground, she slammed her head forward. Kohara headbutted Isori right in the face with an audible crack. He took a few unsteady steps backward, a dazed look on his face. Kohara had stumbled a little too but did now lunged forward, punching Isori right in the face. He toppled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Everyone waited patiently for quite some time, expecting Isori to flare to life. Instead, he lay unmoving on the ground, blood pouring from his nose. Hayate Gekko suddenly cleared his throat and stepped forward for the second time.
"Isori Uchiha is unconscious. Therefore, Kohara Ruchi is the winner of this round," he said while eyeing Isori. It seemed even the proctor was waiting for the fateful Uchiha to get back up again.
Kohara barely even reacted to hearing she had one, she was too busy clutching the tanto jutting out of her shoulder. Worried, I decided I should go down and help her out. Using my Sand Particle Conversion, I turned into a sand cloud and flee down to Kohara. Once there, I converted myself back and caught the falling kunoichi.
"You did a good job out there," I said with a smile. Kohara blushed and smiled back at me.
"I should be thanking you, I had heard you were the one that gave him all those injuries in the last exam. All I did was finish him off, you did all the work," she said humbly. I stared at her in disbelief, making her frown.
"You were the one that defeated him, not me," I asserted. Kohara looked a little speechless for a moment before weakly nodding.
A sudden movement to my right caught my eye, I could feel my sand shield activating. I quickly extended it to Kohara until there was a wall that protected us. A single object sunk into my shield before it retracted back into my gourd. When it dropped, I was greeted by Isori staring at me. A kunai lay on the ground, it was what had been flying towards us a few seconds ago.
"Give me my tanto back," he growled. It amazed me he had been able to get back up after all of his injuries. Looking back at Kohara, she still had the tanto in her left shoulder. She wrapped her right arm around it and pulled a little, immediately wincing in pain.
"You'll get it back when the medical ninjas remove it," I told him coldly. It was unsafe to pull the blade out now, it was the only thing keeping blood from gushing out of the wound. Isori didn't say anything, he just glared angrily at me. I glared back at him, not willing to submit to his childish antics. Isori's right arm lunged forward suddenly, grabbing his tanto. I converted my arm into the sand using Sand Particle Conversion, catching his hand before it could go any further. Using the sand my arm had transformed into, I yanked Isori's hand away. I then released him, sending him stumbling to the ground. Hayate Gekko appeared beside me, as did Kiruno with an angry look.
"What do you think you're doing," growled Kiruno. Her gaze felt so intimidating even without her Sharingan activated.
"The match is over, he is needlessly endangering her life and openly trying to insure me," I said coolly. Hayate looked uncomfortable, I doubted he wanted to get in Kiruno's way but he was the proctor.
"That's enough. Kiruno, take your son away before he causes any more trouble. As for you, get out of the arena and wait your turn," he said with a cough. Kiruno helped Isori up, shoving away the medical ninjas that had finally arrived to take him out of the arena. I helped Kohara get onto one of their stretchers and then followed her out of the arena.
"What are you doing? You need to stay, your name might get called next," Kohara said weakly.
"Don't worry, I'm only escorting you to the doorway," I told her. As we neared the door, someone appeared in front of us. It was Migaki, a neutral expression on her face. What could she want? Migaki walked right up to stand next to the stretcher, opposite side from me. The medical ninjas then paused to see what she wanted.
"I just wanted to say congratulations and sorry about my brother. He's a very temperamental person as well as arrogant," said Migaki regretfully. I looked at her in shock, she didn't seem like the apologizing type. Kohara simply gave a polite smile.
"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. As for your brother, you really don't need to apologize for him," she said kindly. How could someone with a tanto sticking out of their shoulder even be so kind? Kohara was just on a whole other level of polite. Migaki also looked surprised for a moment before nodding. The medical ninjas continued on their way. I went to follow but Kohara shook her head so I stopped. Migaki and I stood side by side, watching Kohara disappear through the doorway.
"The Hidden Sand certainly has some strong shinobi," commented Migaki. She then walked off before I could respond to her compliment.
I made my way back up the stairs to the balcony, Kankuro and Temari waiting for me. I resumed my place where I had been before leaping down to help Kohara. Kankuro and Temari glanced at me but didn't say anything. The screen on the wall lit back up to display Shino and Zaku's names. Looks like things would continue as normal, at least until Migaki and Rasho had to fight.
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((Sorry this chapter is so short, I just felt it would be the best to give this fight its own little chapter even if it is short. Hope you liked it.))
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